秦代传国玉玺揭谜——两个版本、两种材料、两枚玉玺

UNCOVERING OF THE SECRET ABOUT THE STATETRANSMISSION JADE SEAL FROM THE QIN DYNASTY——TWO VERSIONS, TWO MANUFACTURING MATERIALS AND TWO JADE SEALS

以历史记载和研究为基础 ,应用历史学和考古学的分析方法 ,论证了秦代传国玉玺不是历史传说的一枚 ,而是有和氏璧和蓝田玉两个版本。其中和氏璧版本最早刻于秦王政二十六年 ,刻文为“受命于天 ,既寿永昌”,颜色为青碧色 ,但于秦王政二十八年丢失于洞庭湖湖底 ,而后在秦王政三十六年为人以同样的材料、同样的形制和同样的刻文所重新仿刻并献回 ;而蓝田玉版本刻于丢失和氏璧版本的秦王政二十八年 ,刻文为“受天之命 ,皇帝寿昌”,颜色为白色 ,这一版本于是年取代丢失的和氏璧版本而取得正统传国玺地位。该两个版本的观点对于鉴定和判别后唐以后历朝自刻的和仿制的传国玉玺以及流传至今的各种来源的所谓传国玉玺也有帮助。而秦王政二十六年一统天下时琢刻的原版和氏璧传国玺有可能仍然沉睡在洞庭湖湖底 ,值得当今世人的深切关注。

By using historical and archaeological analytical methods, this paper demonstrates that there are actually two versions of the so-called state-transmission jade seals, one was made of Bian He's Jade in 221BC, the other was made of Lantian Jade in 219BC. However, the Bian He's jade version was incidentally lost in the Dongting Lake during an excursion by the Qin Emperor in 219BC. Therefore it is logical to claim that another one made of Lantian Jade was subsequently engraved with another set of characters and became the official seal. Even if historical records indicate that in 211BC a seal similar to the Bian He's Jade version was returned to the Qin Emperor, the paper infers that this 211BC seal must not be the original Bian He's jade version and has not regained its lost official status, simply because the original version is unrecoverable and must still be lying at the bottom of the Dongting Lake. So the two-version model can be utilized to successfully explain all the complexities surrounding this lost state treasure and to identify the so-called state seal that appeared in later dynasties after Houtang reign.